A Top Ten Finalist for Best Historical Novel, Goodreads Choice Awards, and a LibraryReads and Okra PickA big-hearted coming-of-age debut set in civil rights-era New Orleans—a novel of Southern eccentricity and secrets When Ibby Bell’s father dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1964, her mother unceremoniously deposits Ibby with her eccentric grandmother Fannie and throws in her father’s urn for … throws in her father’s urn for good measure. Fannie’s New Orleans house is like no place Ibby has ever been—and Fannie, who has a tendency to end up in the local asylum—is like no one she has ever met. Fortunately, Fannie’s black cook, Queenie, and her smart-mouthed daughter, Dollbaby, take it upon themselves to initiate Ibby into the ways of the South, both its grand traditions and its darkest secrets.
For Fannie’s own family history is fraught with tragedy, hidden behind the closed rooms in her ornate Uptown mansion. It will take Ibby’s arrival to begin to unlock the mysteries there. And it will take Queenie and Dollbaby’s hard-won wisdom to show Ibby that family can sometimes be found in the least expected places.
For fans of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and The Help, Dollbaby brings to life the charm and unrest of 1960s New Orleans through the eyes of a young girl learning to understand race for the first time.
By turns uplifting and funny, poignant and full of verve, Dollbaby is a novel readers will take to their hearts.
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Sorry, but I did not like this book. The storyline had potential, but the author tried to cram in too much and never fully developed anything.
The brief description and the New Orleans setting drew me to a book in a genre that I seldom read. Characters were interesting and there is an underlying current of interconnectedness that kept me reading. The organization into three separate time periods, four years apart, surprised me (concerned about disjointedness) but was handled very well.
Having visited New Orleans before Katrina, I particularly enjoyed the setting. Leading characters are strong.
I enjoyed the characters and the story of Ibby Bell who was dropped off at her Grandmother’s home in New Orleans by her mother following the death of her father. The characters are rich and well portrayed. A good read about racial tensions and the connections between the black community and the white community in the late 60’s and 70’s
Ibby is a wonderfully drawn character whose journey is surrounded by strong women with lots of secrets that come together at the end. Bet you will not predict the intricate connections.
Great book
I am from New Orleans where the story is set so I particularly enjoyed all the references to life in the city in the mid to late 60s. It felt authentic Though a little romanticized.
Great historical fiction
It was about a time when racial inequality was rampant and yet the main characters had love and respect for each other. Good read.
Great book for the fans of the Help and Saving Cece Honeycutt. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the culture of the south in the 1960s.
This was one of the best books I have read lately. The characters were fully formed and the situations were so surprising. I simply did not want it to end.
Enjoyed this book from start to finish.
For someone who lived in New Orleans, this book was such a treat capturing the true essence of New Orleans, the people, the rich culture, and the zest for life.
Loved it….just a sweet read…great characters
I love books about the South and this one didn’t disappoint. If you like stories from the South, you will enjoy this one about a young girl.
I really enjoyed this book. Keeps you up at night to finish reading it.
Doll baby was an important reminder of what we might learn from history. Battles for human dignity are not new. We can learn for history or be doomed to repeat and repeat humanity’s crimes against one another.
Very enjoyable. A little difficult to follow the time line of the story. It skips around a lot.
Wonderful and accurate, in my experience, representation of relationships between families in 1960’s South. Rich in New Orleans culture, too. Plot carries you in seemingly disparate directions, but satisfyingly resolved in the end.